Looking for Eco-Friendly School Supplies? Try O'BON

GreenMaven was contacted a few months ago by a company named, O'BON which we learned in French means "Oh Good". They wanted to send us some samples. Having never heard of them and curious about free samples, how could we say no! The package arrived and when we took the samples out, we were pleasantly surprised. They sent us a couple really cool journals made out of sugarcane and some pencils made out of recycled newspaper.

The sugarcane journals are wonderful! Having used them all summer long for note taking during meetings and keeping life organized in the paper world, you can hardly tell that the paper is made of sugarcane. We learned from their website that they "collect the sugarcane pulp used to make [their] paper from the sugar industry, where it is common practice to either burn or dump the leftover sugarcane "waste." The journals come in an assortment of beautiful colorful designs.

They also sent us some really neat pencils from their Wildlife Series that we passed on to some kids we know who are going to use them for school this Fall. What's cool about these pencils is that not only are they made of 100% recycled newspaper, but they also have an educational element. "By designing our products around animal designs and environmental facts, our goal is to nudge kids down the path of environmental responsibility and curiosity."

It was also fascinating to learn on their website that they have an O'BON School Program where kids can trade in their old pencils for new ones and their old pencil will get donated to a child who needs a pencil. Better yet, kids can sell O'BON products to raise funds for school projects. In addition they have O'BON Causes which will match every purchase of O'BON products with a donation to The *Arbor Day Foundation* to plant a tree.

We recommend checking out O'BON this fall for your Back to School needs and hope that you love their products as much as we have!